TEHRAN– Wendy Sherman, who served as President Biden’s deputy secretary of state, has stated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “created a genocide” in Gaza, while also criticizing the US approach to Iran and the unraveling of the nuclear deal.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Sherman, who left the Biden administration in July 2023, before Israel’s military campaign in Gaza began, made a rare acknowledgment of US-supported atrocities against Palestinian civilians from a former senior administration official. Despite her view, she maintained that US support for Israel remains critical.
“It is critical that Israel remains an ally of the US and we protect the right of a Jewish state,” Sherman said. “I also believe that Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] has led us down a road — and we have been part of it — that has, in essence, created a genocide in Gaza that has destabilized the Middle East.”
When asked whether her opinion that Israel committed genocide was prevalent among her fellow Jewish Americans, Sherman responded: “I can’t make the legal analysis about whether it is literally a genocide, but there is no doubt Gaza was demolished.”
She added: “I am a strong supporter of Israel and the right of a Jewish state, but I am not a supporter of destroying any civilization, or any people — that goes for the Palestinians or the Iranian people.”
Sherman led negotiations with Iran during the Obama administration, which culminated in the 2015 signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal.
However, President Trump tore up the deal in 2018, a move that led Iran to increase its enrichment levels. The current Trump administration has since used Iran’s advanced nuclear work in its attempts to justify attacking the country.
Sherman told Bloomberg that the United States has “not dealt with the Middle East in a way that’s helped create stability and peace.”
“Obviously, the Iraq war was a disaster. Then, Obama tried to deal with Iran, which was undone by Trump. Could the Biden administration have done more? I’m sure we could have. Every administration, in hindsight, could have done more,” she said.
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